What the Rockets and Spurs said after Friday’s game

Here, courtesy of the good folks with the Rockets’ media services office, is a sampling of the post-game comments after Houston’s 119-114 overtime victory over the Spurs Friday night at the Toyota Center.

RICK ADELMAN

“I just can’t say enough about our team. In my mind, that might be the best win we’ve had all year because we had this team coming in here that had lost five in a row, which they hadn’t done for decades, fighting with the Lakers for the best record, and they came out and played hard, really took it to us in the second half and our guys just kept playing. It was really a pleasure to see it. Kyle made the big shot, we got a couple stops we needed to get – just a great win.”

“It was a win that, when you look back on it, with everything that was riding (on it), playing the best team in the league, you have to give our guys a lot of credit – they never cracked.”

“Our guys came in with an attitude they they’re going to have to beat us and that’s how we have to approach Sunday’s game and next Tuesday’s game – they’ve got to beat us, we’re not beating ourselves, we’re going to put the effort out and see how long we can take this thing because you never know what can happen as long as we’re still winning games.”

(On Courtney Lee)

“That’s why I left him in there. That’s why I went with that group because I wanted him on (Manu) Ginobili and he’s (Lee) really active and he played him (Ginobili) smart. We had seven guys in double figures. It was a win that you look back on with everything that was riding on playing the best team in the league. Gotta give our guys a lot of credit, they never cracked. “

LUIS SCOLA

(On the win)

“It was just a great game. The Spurs are the best team in the NBA. They always play great. There’s not one season where they don’t play great. They are a great team and they’ve had a lot of success. It’s always a fun game to play. It’s always a big game. It’s a rivalry match. Because of all those things I like to play against them.”

(On the importance of the win)

“We are in a little playoff series. We’ve got six games left and we need to win them all. The only way you’re going to have a chance to play, maybe we can lose one, but we’re going to need a lot of wins. There is nothing we can do about what they (Grizzlies) do. We can’t control that so we need to win. It was a huge win today. This is the best team in the NBA right now. We played great I think.”

CHUCK HAYES

(On the win)

“Three out of the four games (against the Spurs) came down to the wire. Three out of four could have gone either way. Today, it bounced our way. Tony (Parker) just couldn’t hit a corner three. He had three open looks, two air balls and one rimmed out. That just shows finally the last bounce went our way.”

(On the Rockets forcing overtime)

“We go down three (points), we don’t make a shot. Kyle (Lowry), Kevin (Martin) and Courtney (Lee) do a three-quarter press and come up with a steal and we made it and cut it to one (point lead). Sometimes you don’t need that. You don’t need those momentums, but the ball bounced our way. We were able to foul Timmy ( Duncan) who made one out of two and Kyle made a great shot. Things were going our way and we just had to hurry up and get the game over with.”

COURTNEY LEE

(On the steal in the last 30 seconds of the game)

“I tried to make a play on the inbound pass. (Tony) Parker did a good job of keeping it alive and then I saw that George Hill was trapped up to and he was bobbling the ball and (Tony) Parker was running too. I was the next man in rotation so I just shot the gap. I was able to get the steal.”

(On the meaning of this win and the last six games)

“Our sense of urgency is way up there. Like you said, we have to win them all and we have to continue to win. It helps being at home, protecting home court and the crowd and fans behind us helps us out a lot. So, we have to carry it over to the next game and just every game from there.”

KEVIN MARTIN

(On the Rockets being able to get a steal near the end of regulation)

“We knew we had to get stops on their pick and rolls and we also knew we could switch a lot of stuff with the team we had out there. We wanted to pressure them a little bit. Chuck (Hayes) was fighting (Tim) Duncan hard and it worked out in our favor.”

(On the key to the win)

“We were talking before the game how we were always so close so we just had to put in an extra effort on the defensive end and finally pull one out. It means a lot to us. Especially, where we are right now standing-wise.”

GREGG POPOVICH

(On the last possession – what happened on the time out)

“Don’t ask me. I have no idea why we didn’t foul. I tried to get it but they didn’t hear me. There is no excuse, they should know the score and time left.”

(On the game)

“It was a tough loss and Houston played great. We played with more of a purpose in the second half and that was the good part of the game. We threw the ball away when we had chances at the end. It’s unbelievable that could happen again.

(On the team’s current play)

“We’re going to see what we are made out of. If we can dig down deeper, we’ll see if we are worth the way we played this season or not.”

TIM DUNCAN

(On the game)

“We know it’s always a tough game with Houston. We didn’t finish the game and they made more plays than we did. We were focused to start the game and they made shots early. We countered that in the second half but we just couldn’t finish.”

TONY PARKER

(On the last possession)

“I don’t know. We needed three and I thought it was better not to foul. I didn’t hear Pop yelling.”

(On the game)

“They are all tough losses now. We are not making plays at the end of games. We have to stay positive and hope it turns our way. We’ll see what we’re made of.”

(On Kyle Lowry’s play)

“Kyle has been carrying their team lately and is becoming one of the best point guards in the league.”

ANTONIO MCDYESS

(On the game)

“Definitely, this was a tough loss. Houston always plays us tough and tonight was no different. Houston made big shots and big stops. Our defense has become non-existent at this point. We have to get it back.”